Portfolio Guidelines

What is the Portfolio?The Portfolio brings together all of your work over your graduate career at USC. You
should begin thinking about the Portfolio during your first semester and systematically
collect copies of everything you create: both public history products and seminar
papers from traditional history courses.

What should I include in the Portfolio?One way to decide what to include is to think about what you would want to bring to
a job interview to demonstrate the breadth of your professional experience and the
quality of your work. Remember, potential employers are interested in your writing,
research, and communication skills, as well as your public history experience.

AllPublic History students will include:

A current resume/curriculum vita (required). Copies should be distributed to the
Public History faculty prior to the presentation. Look at the template resume on
the Public History website.

A table of contents for the Portfolio (required). Copies should be distributed to
the Public History faculty prior to the presentation.

A short essay that offers reflections on thetheoretical and methodological assumptions of the field (required). Students in the museums concentration might use the museum philosophy
statements they write in Professor Marsh’s courses as a starting point. Students in
the historic preservation concentration might reflect on how we preserve – and why – as starting points. Do not simply recount the courses you have taken or what you
have learned in graduate school. Let the resume and the table of contents describe,
organize, and categorize the public history products you have created in your time
in the Public History Program. Use the essay to think about public history and your
field of specialty as intellectual enterprises, as professional perspectives, as forms
of civic engagement, as ways to find uses for the past in the present. Most students
base the remarks for the oral presentation on this essay. Copies should be distributed
to the Public History faculty prior to the presentation.

The internship report and any portable products of the internship (required)

Products from graduate assistantships, if appropriate

Grant applications to which you contributed

Seminar papers that exhibit superior research and writing skills

Articles submitted for publication

Products from Public History elective courses outside your track

Press releases/newspaper articles to which you've contributed

Color printouts of websites you've helped to develop

Students in theHistoric Preservationtrack will include:

Nominations to the National Register of Historic Places

Charleston field school projects

Historic preservation practicum projects

Cultural resource surveys

Historic structure reports

GIS projects

Any other appropriate individual or team project in Preservation

Students in theMuseums and Material Culturetrack will include:

Lesson plans/teacher packets

Exhibit scripts, including examples of artifacts and graphics

Examples of collection catalog sheets

Examples of condition reports

Reports on conservation treatments, with supporting images

Any other appropriate individual or team project in Museums/Material Culture

What is the Portfolio Presentation? The presentation is a formal public event that is scheduled for one day at the end
of the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. It represents a comprehensive examination
in the field of public history and your concentration (museums or historic preservation).
Don't waste time by telling us why you chose USC or how wonderful the faculty is.
Instead, focus on how your portfolio reflects themajor theoretical and methodological principles of your field. Use of handouts and visual materials is encouraged. Following each presentation,
supervising faculty will ask questions and comment in order to test your knowledge
of the theory and method of the field, after which members of the audience may comment.
The presentation is intended to give you experience in public speaking and describing
your work in an interview situation, as well as in demonstrating knowledge of the
field.

When can I do my presentation?Only one Portfolio Presentation will be scheduled each semester. You must have completed
all coursework, including the internship and the foreign language requirement (or
its alternative), before making the Portfolio Presentation. You may make your presentation
during the semester in which you are finishing the coursework. You may make your presentation
before completing the thesis.

How do I prepare for the presentation?Keep your Public History advisor informed of your plans. Let him/her know if you plan
to do your Portfolio Presentation during the coming semester.At least one week prior to the presentation, give your advisor a complete copy of
your Portfolio, as well as a separate copy of your resume, table of contents, and
essay. Give the other supervising faculty copies of your resume, table of contents,
and essay. Consider bringing handouts (of your resume and the table of contents and any other
relevant material) for audience members. Practice giving the presentation. It should
not exceed fifteen (15) minutes.

How is it graded?The Portfolio Presentation is graded by your advisor in consultation with the other
supervising Public History faculty. Grades are A, A-, B+, B, B-, and F.